Jack informed me today that he's starting up his own site on the Bigwhoop. To commemorate this event, I'm going to sponsor something I like to call The Best of the Bigwhoop. This contest, while having a title that might seem to indicate it pertains to our humble, yet growing, webring, actually is nothing of the sort. Instead, I'd just like to see who can come up with the most entertaining tag-line imaginable for me, which I will then post permanently on my site.
There is also a prize that's pretty damn cool that I'll be sending to the winner. No need to keep things sanitary, or in any sort of good taste. Multiple suggestions are welcome. Let's see what you've all got.
Yesterday, Mark, Joel and I hit the mountains for one final ski/snowboard run this season. Interstingly enough, I had my board waxed for the first time (and I mean ever), yet it's hard to say that it improved things in any way. Instead of helping me at all, the new wax caused my board to be way more out of control than I could handle. It was a decent day overall, if a bit bizarre.
On a totally unrelated note (other than relating the mundane details of my recent doings), Ron Jeremy gave a talk on campus on thursday night. It was intersting, and I was especially impressed at his ability to orate more than just grunts and moans. Seriously though, he was a pretty intellegent and down-to-earth seeming guy. I'd say the worst part was when they opened it up for questions at the end, inviting a bunch of boneheads (yeah, that means you Nick Dasher) down to ask things like "How big is your dick?" and "Do you prefer fake breasts or real breasts?" There was even one point when a woman approached looking as though she might let loose with a string of insults, and instead made a totally indecent proposal, prompting me to mutter "You obviously never went to college."
And to further unrelate things, (unless you caught that last referrence) I saw The Ladykillers last night, and I have to re-affirm that the Coen Brothers are consitently the best movie-makers out there. I laughed out loud more in that movie than I have in a good while.
And finally, for Johnny, a story about that endless fight. Chalk one up for the good guys, buddy.
Do you ever wonder what would happen if the magnetic poles of the Earth reversed? I do. Here's my idea of how things might be . . .
Jack: Hey guys, did you hear what happened to the magnetic poles?!
Mark: What are you talking about dude?
Me: Oh shit, my compass is pointing the wrong way!
See what I mean? Crazy. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen.
Last night, I discovered that our mouse had found its way into my bedroom sometime in the last week. This discovery came when the daring little devil scurried into my closet while I sat only inches away at my desk.
Almost immediately I was upon him, fully clad in ski gloves and a thick jacket. I routed the devil closer to the doorway, tossing aside debris as I uncovered the many levels of his lair. Finaly, I worked him down to the hardwood and exposed the beast. He froze for an instant, and hissed in the blinding beam of my headlamp. Then he bolted for the doorway.
Fearlessly, I leapt at him, and with a fury that the closet hadn't seen in many a year. I had him in my grasp, and with lightning speed, I drew him to the edge of the house, and set him in flight into the yard.
My victory assured, I returned to my study.
Within an hours time, however, the beast returned to disrupt my quiet solitude. With the faint tussling of a plastic bag that had been strewn across the floor in the previous battle, he declared his daring claim on the closet across the room and scurried away.
Again, I donned my battle garb, this time with the resolve to hurl the beast across the street to his demise. As I tossed aside the empty boxes which made his grand fortress, he gave a cry.
"Victory shall never come to you!" he let forth arrogantly, as if to strengthen his own resolve in the saying, "You can never be rid of me!" It was an empty threat.
With a new fever, and a fell disposition, I came upon the very foundation of his fortress, and as I lifted the cardboard away, a shadow of doom fell upon my heart.
For the beast was vanished without a trace (beyond his vile excrement).
I screamed a cry of unfinished battle and fell to my knees, my tears swelling from the devil's unjust victory. It was in this position that I happened to spot a small hole in the corner of the closet. It was the foul cave of the beast's escape, and immediately I covered the entrance with a force greater in strength and gravity than ten mice could move!
It was thusly that I sealed the fate of the fell beast, and gained a new victory over his arrogance and develish courage.
With that, I returned to my study, and slept last night with a fresh feeling of safety from any beast the devil could ever conjure.
Andy 2, Beast 867
Well, in the final day of our So-Cal adventure, Lin and I headed up to Ojai, a small 'artsy' community up in the hills outside of Ventura. This was more or less a pilgrimage to see Otto Heine, an 89-year-old potter who earns over a million a year making plates, bowls, and candle-holders.
It turns out a good amount of his fortune comes from the yellow glaze he created. In Japan, the color used to be used for ceremonial ceramics, but the secret formula/technique was lost. Yellow is a really hard color, mostly it burns off in the firing process, but Otto re-discovered the secret to making it work, and the Japanese government has been getting all their official yellow pots from him ever since.
Even at that he had a yellow pitcher, about a foot-and-a-half tall that he was selling for 10 grand, and the little plates in purple weren't ever less than $75. A little too pricy for my liking, I'm afraid.
With a smoothie on the way back into town, then some dinner with Vicki, and finally some quick packing, we were set for our return.
Now we face the daunting task of returning to our studies for a mere eight weeks before we're totally through.
And so it goes . .
After a few days of running around town, making appearances with family, hitting up Ralph’s and Long’s, and otherwise basking in the So-Cal heat wave, Lin and I crashed Disneyland. Together with her brother, Nate, we managed to hit up all the major rides (minus Indiana Jones and Space Mountain due to repairs), and even get a good lunch in.
StarTours was once again the major pleaser, along with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Tom Sawyer’s Island, confirming my top-three list from First Grade. I can’t say enough how awesome it is to feel like you’re flying along side a team of X-Wings down the DeathStar trench. That said, the ride could use a good update. Nate and I discussed the benefits of getting the ride involved in a pod-race somehow, and I feel like it could use some speeder bike elements, racing through the trees of Endor and whatnot.
This trip’s surprises as far as entertaining rides were the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, and the Teacups. The Teacups wins this category, though, by virtue of how entertaining it was to ride with Lin and Nate. I think those two have some sort of euphoric spinning pre-disposition hard-wired into their genetics. Further surprise came from the Peter Pan ride, where I remember it being a long and very impressive ride, this time around it seemed short and not-so-impressive. Go figure.
Yesterday, St. Paddy’s was celebrated in good form with some corned beef and stewed veggies, followed by an appearance from Nate’s Pipe Band (that’s Bagpipes) and a few drinks at the bar down the street.
And finally, tonight is our last night in town, with an early morning tomorrow and a (hopefully) painless flight to get us home by mid-afternoon.
I should take this opportunity (while internet access will be sparse this week) to post some new pictures from our meeting with Bendis. These were taken by the ‘official’ photographer for the store, and on Friday the owner then sent them along via email. Enjoy.
I assault Bendis with my mighty pen. He rightfully gazes with awe and delight.
Bendis signs my project. Jack and I hold back from dropping on our knees and yelling “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!”
Bendis and I discuss the beauty of the piece and how awesome we both are.
Jack and I baste in our own excellence. Then we’re promptly kicked out of the store.
This morning at 5am, Lin and I (aided by Jack and his car, the big teddy bear) began our So Cal odyssey. With only two hours in the air, our flight had to be the easiest such experience I’ve ever had, complete with a Fair Scone (Puyallup style) for breakfast, and some awesome views of the Cascades, Tahoe, and the Sierras.
Then it was on to the Huntington Library with Lin’s mom, where we saw some incredibly old books on display (it’s actually a museum and gardens, who knew?) before heading to lunch and a driving tour of Pasadena.
Funnily enough, while this was all going on, Trent posted to let me know that he’s staying with a friend at Caltech for the week. This occurrence, combined with the recent interest from Furst to meet up with me when he visits Washington in the summer, has helped me determine that our little Flagstaff boys clique has got to be the most-odd-yet-still-successful-in-the-long-term group of friends I’ve ever had.
With only one more small assignment due tomorrow, spring break is quickly cresting the horizon.
This year, following suit with almost every other year, I'll be heading out of state/country. This time, Lin and I are making our first journey by plane together, and hopping down to Southern Cal for a few days. The theme of this trip is 'cheap' as most of our time will be spent doing all the free things that Ventura has to offer (including her family's house).
Later in the week, I'm hoping to return to freshly snowed resorts for some good boarding with Mark and Johnny.
Good times ahead.
So, this busy weekend is now culminating into the Monday from hell. My comicbook is due tomorrow and will be turned in unfinished, as I'm now going to get started on my education paper (five pages) that's due tomorrow at 8 am.
This frees up tomorrow so I can get started on my physics and math that are both due Wednesday, and finally my art critique for Thursday.
Spring Break needs to be at least three weeks long . . .
In looking around the web for some stuff on Bendis, comics, and whatnot, I found ArtBomb.net. This is a pretty good site, complete with reviews of indi/semi-indi comics and bios on many writers. It's also got some work that you can look at that's pretty good.
Matt created this look for my site some time ago without me realizing it. Feel free to comment on it (please do, in other words). It may be hard to create new schemes of my own, but using one that someone else has made for me isn't tough at all.
Alright.
So this last weekend was such a blast.
First of all, the concert that Lindsey and I went to was awesome. It was the chamber version of Appalachian Spring, a piece that's totally incredible in it's normal orchestration, and ten times better like this. It's such an exposed, lyrical piece when it's only on a few of the instruments, it seriously gave me chills at multiple points.
That whole evening included dinner and some great relaxed time away from campus and schoolwork. In the end, it was a great Christmas present.
Upon arriving back in town, however, my attention immediately turned to my art project. Starting at about 11pm, and continuing until about 3am, Jack, Lindsey, and I stensilled, cut, and glued nearly the entire cover of the comic into place.
By 11 the next morning, Jack and I were back in action, finishing up with the lettering on the cover (the biggest pain in the ass of all), while Jess began work on shading Spider-Man. Pressing the 4pm deadline, we finally got it to a state where Bendis could sign the thing, and Jack and I headed up to the shop to meet him.
And without further ado, here are the pictures:
Jack and I in line with the comic. Geeks look on in awe as two super-geeks appear in the midst.
Bendis signs Jack's books. Jack wets himself.
And Bendis signs mine. I wet myself, the promptly run outside to throw up.
The signature. The project comes together, and my goal is accomplished. And I'm spent.
I can't even relate to you how awesome this guy was. Four or five times he repeated that Jack and I made his day. He chatted with me for a few minutes about becoming a comic writer. And at one point, he mentioned showing the pictures of us to Bagley (the artist), and seemed to think that he'd be impressed. More truthfully, his direct quote was "I gotta show these pictures to Bagley, he's gonna flip when he sees this!"
At that point I shat myself.
Afterwards, Jack and I rested for a few, then headed out for a bite at The Parkway and a celebratory drink. We continued our celebration later with a viewing of the new Broken Lizard film, which wasn't great, but entertaining nonetheless.
Since all of this, I've been totally focused on all the work I've been neglecting in order to finish my project (which still isn't even done!). Next week doesn't look much better either, but then it's break and I'm off to So Cal for a few days.
All in all, it was one of the most awesome weekends I've had in my entire life.
WOW.
So, pretty much the weekend went awesome. As soon as is physically possible, I'm going to post some pics and explain the story in full detail. Until then, check out Eric's ongoing debate on the nature of God and other religious dogma here.
I'll be back in a few.